Morning journal and courier., 1887-03-26
CREMATION IN Alaska.
Curious Customs That Follow Death
why the Bodies Burn Well.

From the Alaska Free Press.l
Having had information the other day OF q
cremation to take place at the Indian vii
| lage, went to the beach to witness it. The
defunct siwash was known around juneau as
| Frank, and was formerly employed at Mar
| tin Bros store in the capacity of Indian
clerk, and the Hickman lit being a double
cremation of of each sex) had been
called Jennie; both, as it happened, having
| died of consumption. The mourni ser
vice consisted of the ancient ceremony
known as "potlatch," which is always Gus
tomary among the Indians of southeastern
| Alaska on the occasion of a death of one of
| their number. The potlateh is division of
whatever temporal goods the deceased may
have possessed, such as blankets, dry goods,
| &C., among his or her relations, according as
| the merits of each individual case may jus
| tify.
In the services of the mourning, which
are very long. and to the Indian mind very
| impressive, the first in order of the day is
a eulogistic discourse by one of the old men,
which, being delivered by him in sections, SC
| to speak, is taken up and sung by the rest in
q monotonous sort of chant; the old man is
then superseded by another venerable buck,
| who goes through the same service, and he
| in turn by another, until all the old men
| have had their individual say. The chanters
| keep time by humping the floor with sticks
ana D6at1nS on a drum. 1nlS performance
| being gone over for day two, the pot
| latch takes place.
The body of the deceased is first wrapped
| in a mating woven from split roots, and in
| appearance resembled coarse straw. They
| then convey the body to the place of crema-
| ton, which is always on the beach at high
water mark. On this occasion they had on
hand for the purpose of burning the two
bodies about one cord of wood, some split
and some in small logs. First platform of
| small logs is laid foot from the ground,
and space of four inches between each log.
On this pyre, which was about seven feet
| long by five feet wide, the two bodies were
| placed, about three feet apart, and around
| them a miniature log hut built to a
height of four feet; the enclosed space is
| then carefully filled in with split wood and
| fine kindling, and now everything being in
| readiness, the fire is lighted from the bot
tom. The native diet being chiefly salmon,
an oily substance, the bodies of the Indians
| seem to contain considerable amount of
| oil, as they burn very readily. While the
oorpses were charring the friends of the de-
ceased continued to poke them with long
| sticks, occasionally raking the fragments of
burnt flesh from the fire and wrapping
| them in skins, blankets, &c. Returning
| from the cremation of the two natives, l
heard singing in a native house and dropped
| in to see what was going on.
There was quite an assemblage of natives
squatted around a small fire in the center of
the room, and at one end of the house the
corpse of an old woman lay covered with
sheet and blankets All around the room
was strung up muslin, pieces of calico and a
few blankets; also three umbrellas, &C.. all
of which will be distributed among the rela-
tiyes and near friends. Then the process de-
scribed above will be gone through.